VOA慢速英语听力：美国卫生署针对“长期新冠肺炎”的影响 US Health Agency Targets Effects of ‘Long COVID’

VOA慢速英语听力：美国卫生署针对“长期新冠肺炎”的影响 US Health Agency Targets Effects of ‘Long COVID’.

The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) is beginning a group of studies aimed at treatments for the condition called long COVID.

Reports say millions of Americans are affected by long-lasting effects from COVID-19 infections.

The NIH is using $1.15 billion provided through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to study how people recover from COVID-19. The project is called RECOVER. The goal is to pay for studies examining the health problems that COVID patients suffer long after their infection has ended.

Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly is with Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He is not involved in the NIH project. But his own research on American veterans has brought attention to long COVID. Speaking about the NIH’s project, he said: “This is a year or two late and smaller in scope than one would hope but nevertheless it is a step in the right direction.”

Al-Aly said getting answers is important because there are so many people pushing unproven therapies.

The term “long COVID” is used to describe about 200 symptoms. It is estimated that between 10 and 30 percent of people experience some form of long COVID after an infection.

However, even federal health officials cannot agree on what long COVID truly means. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra has said, “If I get 10 people, I get 10 answers of what long COVID really is.”

The RECOVER effort has followed 24,000 patients in what are called observational studies. The goal is to define the most common symptoms. The findings will help shape future tests for treatments of the symptoms.

Current tests are already taking place. They include a trial of Pfizer’s antiviral drug Paxlovid. Researchers want to find out if Paxlovid can ease long COVID symptoms. The idea behind the study is that some coronaviruses remain in some patients and the treatment will help them.

Researchers are also studying treatments for “brain fog” and other thinking problems. Posit Science Corp. has a treatment program called BrianHQ. PASC-Cognitive Recovery is from New York City’s Mount Sinai Health System. And Soterix Medical has a device that stimulates brain connections.

The two additional studies will begin in the coming months. One will test treatments for sleep problems in people with long COVID. Another will target breathing and heartbeat problems. People’s bodies perform breathing and heartbeat unconsciously. The problems include the disorder POTS, which results from unusual blood flow to the heart.

One planned trial that is the subject of some disagreement involves intolerance to exercise and tiredness, or fatigue. It is not a normal experiment. It is known as a “platform study.” This lets the NIH add new therapies at any time.

“We can rapidly pivot,” said Dr. Amy Patterson, who is with the NIH. She said a failing treatment can be dropped without ending the trial. She added that the study can quickly include a treatment “if something promising comes on the horizon.”

Dr. Anthony Komaroff said it is important to be flexible. He is a researcher from Harvard University. He is not involved in NIH’s RECOVER program. But he said studying the effects of Paxlovid on long COVID patients “makes all sorts of sense.” But he said researchers should consider extending the treatment for longer than 25 days if there is little sign of improvement.

Komaroff said he understands that people get upset over the long wait for treatment trials. He believes, however, that NIH has waited the right amount of time. Waiting, he said, permits enough time for problems to be identified.

“You’ve got to have targets,” Komaroff said.

I’m Mario Ritter, Jr.
美国国立卫生研究院（NIH）正在启动一组旨在治疗被称为“长期COVID”的病症的研究。

报道称，数百万美国人受到COVID-19感染后的长期影响。

NIH正在利用2021年《美国复苏计划法案》提供的115亿美元来研究人们从COVID-19中恢复的情况。该项目名为“RECOVER”。其目标是支付用于研究COVID患者在感染结束后长期遭受的健康问题的费用。

Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly隶属于密苏里州圣路易斯市的华盛顿大学。他并未参与NIH项目。但他在美国退伍军人身上的研究引起了人们对长期COVID的关注。在谈到NIH的项目时，他表示：“这个项目可能比希望的要晚一两年，而且范围较小，但无论如何，这是朝着正确方向迈出的一步。”

Al-Aly表示，获得答案非常重要，因为有很多人在推广未经证实的疗法。

术语“长期COVID”用于描述大约200种症状。据估计，在感染后，有10%到30%的人会出现某种形式的长期COVID。

然而，即使是联邦卫生官员也无法就“长期COVID”真正含义达成一致。美国卫生与人类服务部长Xavier Becerra表示：“如果我询问10个人，我会得到10种不同的关于长期COVID真正含义的回答。”

“RECOVER”项目已经对2.4万名患者进行了所谓的观察性研究。目标是界定最常见的症状。这些发现将有助于塑造未来治疗这些症状的测试。

目前已经进行了一些测试，其中包括辉瑞公司抗病毒药物Paxlovid的试验。研究人员希望找出Paxlovid是否能缓解长期COVID的症状。该研究的背后理念是，一些冠状病毒仍然存在于某些患者体内，治疗将有助于改善他们的症状。

研究人员还在研究“脑雾”和其他思维问题的治疗方法。Posit Science Corp.拥有名为BrianHQ的治疗方案。PASC-Cognitive Recovery来自纽约市的Mount Sinai Health System。Soterix Medical拥有一种刺激脑部连接的设备。

另外两项研究将于未来几个月开始。其中一项将测试长期COVID患者的睡眠问题治疗方法。另一项将针对呼吸和心跳问题。人体的呼吸和心跳是无意识的。这些问题包括POTS障碍，这是由于血液异常流向心脏而引起的。

有一项计划中的试验引起了一些争议，该试验涉及运动耐受不良和疲劳。这不是一项正常的实验，被称为“平台研究”。这使得NIH可以随时添加新的治疗方法。

“我们可以迅速调整，”参与NIH的Amy Patterson博士表示。她表示，如果治疗失败，可以中止试验。她还表示，如果出现“有希望的东西出现在视野中”，研究可以迅速包含治疗方法。

Anthony Komaroff博士表示，保持灵活性非常重要。他是哈佛大学的研究员。他没有参与NIH的RECOVER项目。但他表示，研究Paxlovid对长期COVID患者的影响“非常有道理”。但他说，如果没有明显的改善迹象，研究人员应考虑延长治疗时间超过25天。

Komaroff表示，他理解人们对治疗试验的长时间等待感到沮丧。然而，他认为NIH已经等待了适当的时间。他说，等待足够的时间有助于问题的识别。

“你必须有目标，”Komaroff说。

我是Mario Ritter Jr.

Words in This Story

scope –n. the areas that is included or dealt with

therapy –n. a treatment of physical or mental sickness that might or might not involve medicines

brain fog –n. the inability to think clearly

stimulate –v. to make something active from a less active or quiet state

pivot –v. to turn around a central point

horizon –n. (figurative) the future; a future time

clue –n. something that helps a person understand or find something out that was hidden